Actor, writer, director and the co-founder of the Akshara National Classical Theatre, Jalabala Vaidya launches an initiative, Save The Stage, to garner support from the government in a much more meaningful way. By Team Viva

The pandemic has been catastrophic, the kind which we had never foreseen or imagined, for each and every other business. Not surprisingly, the theatre as well as the performing artistes seem to be acing the list. Actor, writer, director and the co-founder of the Akshara National Classical Theatre, Jalabala Vaidya, launches an initiative, Save The Stage, to make the government and corporate India support the theatre industry in a much more meaningful way.

Since time immemorial, India’s culture has been kept alive by performing artistes and storytellers but the pandemic has pushed us all to the edge. “Surviving as an artist is always an incessant struggle. We, at the Akshara, have been struggling for the last 50 years with little help from the government and corporate India. Today, all of us — artistes, art lovers and the audience must come together to help theatre survive in the face of this pandemic. We are appealing to the government to make some much needed amendments to their cultural policy, which will help both, individual artistes and art institutions,” she says and adds that the government must help theatres or rather performing artistes to survive if they want to survive themselves. They already have so much on their plate but what has kept this huge diverse mass of people going all these years has indeed been the work of the artistes. “It’s intangible and they have to understand that,” says Vaidya.

She feels that it is absolutely a challenge for theatre and artistes to make a space for themselves again till the lockdown completely ends and people can start coming to the theatres like they used to. Until then, “We will have to design our work in such a way that it can be accessed online. That is how we are going to survive and that is where we need financial help,” Vaidya says.

Here are some of the demands, rather suggestions, with inputs from individuals artistes and theatre groups such as Atelier Theatre Group, Dastangoi Collective and Saitan Theatre Group:

For theatres and art institutions:

• Ensure that Corporate India dedicates a significant part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to support individual artistes, creative projects and the creation of infrastructure like performance spaces and training institutions all over India by creating a distinct category for the arts.
• Designate certain Government Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs) to give a percentage of CSR funds to cultural activities.
• Encourage banks and lending institutions to give loans at reasonable rates to artistes and cultural institutions.
• Empower Gurukuls and Gharanas which have preserved and carried forward our cultural traditions through millennia to issue diplomas, which can be utilised by their students for employment under the new National Education Policy (NEP).
• Substantially, increase the quantum of grants to the performing arts.
• Create a helpline facility by the Ministry of Culture to resolve grant issues on time.
• Create Arts Councils in major metros to address artistic issues.

For artistes:

• Allow artistes/institutions to avail of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)-type funds.
• Create a NREGA-type fund for folk artists in rural areas, who can contribute through training and performance (instead of agricultural) work.
• Substantially increase the quantum of  the repertory grant.
• Create consultancy services/seminars on grants and financial assistance for artistes and art institutions.

Tax relaxation:

• Give Goods and Services Tax (GST) exemption on ticket sales/sponsorships for performing arts as is done for sporting events.
• Allow liquor and cigarette companies, which generate huge revenues, to get credit and tax benefit for supporting cultural activities.
• Give 100 per cent Income Tax (IT) exemption to individuals and companies for supporting arts and artistes.